Change coming to Big North in 2023 with addition of three U.P. programs

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Change is inevitable.

That’s a lesson we pick up every fall as the season changes around us.

Growth, however, that’s optional.

But, in the fall of 2023, the Big North Conference for football will embrace change once again and show some growth in the process.

After both Traverse City Central and Traverse City West left for the Saginaw Valley League beginning this fall and access into the Northern Michigan Football League was denied for the remaining BNC four, the Big North will welcome in a trio out of the Upper Peninsula.

Beginning in the fall of 2023, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette and Escanaba will enter the Big North for football only, joining Petoskey, Gaylord, Cadillac and Alpena.

“We have good relationships with all of the schools, they have very similar makeups of their student bodies and competition wise, it just seemed like a great fit,” Gaylord athletic director Christian Wilson said. “We obviously were looking to get like-size schools and similar competition into the league and they are – with the concern of 11-man football in the U.P. – struggling for games more than we are.”

Sault Ste. Marie first agreed to come on board this past spring, then Marquette and Escanaba joined this past month.

Wilson likes the move for many reasons, as having just three conference games is a tough pill to swallow.

“It’s nice having seven teams now,” he said. “The more teams you can have, the nicer it is for all-conference and going for a conference championship. It’s nice to have a few more teams. Definitely better than four.”

Both Marquette and Escanaba will join out of the Great Northern UP Conference, which also includes Kingsford, Gladstone and Menominee currently, though the league was set to break up due to smaller enrollments at the other three.

“Escanaba and Marquette came to us because their football conference was breaking up due to size differences,” Petoskey athletic director Joel Dohm said. “This addition allows for all of us to be competitive when it comes to playoff points and only needing to find three non-conference games.”

Current enrollments within the Big North have Alpena with the most students at 1,049, followed by Petoskey, 918; Gaylord, 911; and Cadillac, 841.

Marquette will join as the largest school with a 2022 enrollment of 1,114, followed by Sault Ste. Marie’s largest enrollment in nearly 10 years at 884 and Escanaba with 651 students.

“The schools we are adding are a good fit size wise and in our schedules for football only,” added Dohm. “The four remaining BNC schools are already playing different combinations of Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie and Escanaba. It became a natural fit.”

This fall, Petoskey’s schedule features all three teams entering the league, with games against the Sault and Marquette coming in the weeks ahead, while Gaylord played Marquette earlier this season and will meet Escanaba in a couple weeks. Alpena and Cadillac also each have at least one game scheduled against one of the three.

With a number of close games on the books this season and in years past, Wilson feels it’ll be a competitive and fun league to follow.

“We’ve played each other and the games are very competitive,” he said. “They’re fun games. It’s no fun when you’re winning 56-0 or losing 56-0, it’s more fun when you’re competing against schools.”

The only part that was left to figure out or aspect that raised concern was of course travel.

While teams out of Northern Michigan and U.P. programs have grown accustomed to travel year after year, it’s a different situation having to do it for conference.

Notably, the trips to Escanaba and Marquette stand out for the teams below the bridge, with it being 404 miles round trip for Petoskey to Marquette and just over 615 miles for Cadillac to make the trip to Marquette.

There was a solution, however.

“We set up our schedules where nobody is going to Marquette or Escanaba both on the same year,” said Wilson. “Obviously, those two teams will have some travel, having to go below the bridge a couple times a year, but they’re just happy to be able to get more games and it really helps with their schedule makeup.”

With like-size competition added and travel figured out, the only thing remaining was a name change.

That, actually, wasn’t discussed, as the move will take place for football only and Big North Conference obviously works, as the league's adding the three largest schools in the northern most part of the state.

In the future, perhaps a new name will come. Change is inevitable after all.

Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Change coming to Big North in 2023 with addition of three programs